"Did you steal all the blankets and pillows in the castle?" I asked in amazement after seeing the huge pile of pillows and blankets that Gregory and Anna had collected.

"We didn't know how much we would need to build a fort," Anna supplied from beneath the pile, "Is this too much?"

"Nah, it's perfect," I reassured her, "We'll be able to build a huge pillow fort and maybe be able to build a nest too."

"A nest," Anna questioned while popping her head from beneath the blankets.

God, she was so adorable.

I'll be damned if anything ever happens to this sweet girl.

"Yeah, it's basically a giant bird's nest made of blankets with a bunch of pillows in the middle," I explained while lifting her out of the pile and setting her to the side. Once Anna was set safely to the side, I started separating the pillows and blankets in the pile.

Both Gregory and Anna helped me quickly separate the large pile. After we had two piles of blankets and pillows, I grabbed the couch cushions and started setting them up as the sides and roof of the fort. I asked Gregory and Anna to grab a couple of large blankets to cover the cushions. They complied with the task while I placed the smaller pillows inside the fort as a makeshift mattress.

I was starting to get a gut feeling that Rudolph and Tony would be taking over the fort.

Which was okay since we had a lot of blankets and pillows left over for the nest that I told Anna about earlier.

After the fort was made, Rudolph flew in with all of Tony's sketchpads, pencils, chalk, paints…pretty much every art supply you could possibly think of. I giggled at the obvious excitement on the boy's face before pushing the coffee table off to the side so they could still see the TV from their fort.

"Here, just place all of that stuff right here," I told Rudolph, motioning to the small coffee table.

He quickly laid the supplies down before turning his attention to the fort and murmuring, "Cool…"

Tony must have taught him that word.

"Do you like it?" I asked him while starting the base of the pillow nest, rolling multiple blankets to create the circular sides.

"Like it?" He began questioning, "I love it!"

Rudolph began flying around the fort, laughing happily.

Tony came into the den with the wireless router from the camper. Normally we just set up a Wi-Fi connection by using the cellular data from our phones. However, since our devices were taken away, we were going to have to set up the movie the hard way. Thank goodness the former innkeepers had bought a smart TV for their guests or else we wouldn't be able to download the movie.

"Tony, look at our amazing fort!" Rudolph called out happily to his best friend.

"Sweet!" Tony jovially exclaimed while going to the television set to start setting up the electrical aspect of the movie night.

My eyes spotted Anna getting ready to dispute Rudolph's claim on the fort. I interrupted this and told Anna that we'd claim the nest.

She seemed appeased by this and helped me finish placing the pillows in the middle and sides for extra comfort and support. After everything was set up, I dimmed the lights in the room. Hoping to set a nice ambiance for the movie but leaving enough light for the boys' drawing.

Rudolph was eagerly setting up the art supplies in the fort while waiting for Tony to come join him.

"Come over here, Anna, and I'll start painting your nails," I offered the little girl, "Which color would you like?"

I showed her my small bag of nail polish so that she could choose a color.

"Oh…this one!" Anna cried out excitedly, pulling out a deep purple shade.

"Excellent choice!" I commended, "Did you want the matching glitter polish on top?"

"There is glitter polish?" She asked in amazement.

"Am I to take that as a yes?" I slightly teased.

"Yes!" Anna enthusiastically replied while holding out her hand for me to begin. I giggled at her contagious happiness before shaking the nail polish to help mix the color.

This was shaping into a wonderful movie night.

We were still waiting for the movie to finish downloading.

The two boys were happily chatting and drawing inside their fort. Anna absolutely loved her newly painted nails and kept showing them to Gregory who was sitting beside us in the nest. He would look up from his book and smile at his younger sister before commenting how pretty her nails are.

This affectionate side of Gregory brought a smile to my face.

It was nice to see how much he cared for his younger brother and sister.

I could relate to that feeling. My hands continued brushing out Anna's hair, still trying to come up with a cute hairdo that she'd like.

"Lucy, don't you want me to paint your nails?" Anna politely asked me.

"Nah, my nails are already painted," I told her, "Besides, I'm having a lot of fun doing all this with you because apparently it's 'too girly' for some people!"

I shouted the last part in Tony's direction.

He stuck his tongue out at me in response to which I mimicked the action back at him.

"I've always wanted a sister as well," Anna confided to me with a small smile on her face.

Yep, nothing is ever happening to this little girl.

"Hmm…what do you think about some French braids on both sides that connect into one long, inverted fishtail braid?" I asked her. I decided to stick with her preferred braid style but was going to add a bit more depth and volume to make it more fun.

"I don't know what all that means, but I'll trust your judgement," she answered honestly.

"Wonderful," I whispered.

"Hey guys, the movie finished downloading," Tony called out to get our attentions. I halted my brushing to turn Anna towards the TV and take Gregory's book out of his hand.

I had a bit of a Déjà vu moment from when he took my tablet from me.

He was a better sport about it though and grabbed a couple of pillows to prop his back up. I mimicked his actions before asking Anna to scooch closer to me so that I could finish styling her hair. She complied and Tony started the movie once he saw that we were ready.

Gregory scowled at me when the movie started off with the characters singing.

Oh, yeah…I kind of forgot to warn him about that.

I giggled at his reaction, tying off the first French braid on the side of Anna's head.

His scowl deepened at my response.

My head slightly tilted towards Anna's direction, said girl was completely enraptured by the idea of people singing in a movie. Her happy face seemed to assuage his wrath and he settled back down in the nest.

I started working on the other side of Anna's hair, a feeling of contentment filling the room.

It wasn't long after the movie started that I finished the final fishtail braid on Anna's new hairstyle. She looked absolutely precious. The two French braids on the side helped frame her face and looked as though she had a crown on her head. I wished that I had some flowers to pin into the side braids to help emphasize the crown look. Maybe I could order a cute ornamental comb to set into the beginning of the inverted fishtail braid.

Oh, that would look super cute on her…

My fingers continued to trace Anna's finished braids as I thought of more ways to style it in the future. She seemed to enjoy me playing with her hair and cuddled closer to me in response. I instinctively wrapped my arms around the small girl before leaning back into my pillows.

I loved my new little sister.

Yep, I've decided to claim her as my own.

I noticed Gregory look at me in curiosity.

My response was to pull Anna closer to me and stick my tongue out at him.

Tough luck, Gregory, she's mine now.

He snickered at my possessive behavior before turning back towards the movie.

I copied his actions and smiled when I saw it got to my favorite scene in the movie. It was the bar scene when the skeleton's sing about Emily's tragic love story. Anna let out a small gasp in alarm when the story told of how the groom-to-be murdered his intended. I pulled her in a tighter hug in reassurance. I overheard Rudolph cry out 'scoundrel' in an outraged tone of voice.

The majority of the movie was spent like this. Anna would swoon at the romantic parts and Rudolph would laugh at the funny parts. They would show similar reactions of anger and disgust whenever Lord Barkis Bittern came on the screen. Gregory seemed to be the only one in the group who could remain silent throughout the movie.

I heard sniffling come from Anna at the end when Emily turned into butterflies.

"Are you crying, Anna?" I asked the small girl who had shifted her position halfway through the movie and was currently leaning into my left side with my arm wrapped around her. Gregory peered over me on my right side to check on his little sister.

"It's just so sad and yet…happy!" Anna disclosed trying to regain her composure.

"Yeah," I began agreeing with her, "It reminds me of Hans Christian Andersen's tale of, 'The Little Mermaid'."

"Oh, I love that story!" She happily told me, remembering one of her favorite fairy tales.

"Girls…" Both Tony and Rudolph groaned out in unison.

"Boys…" Anna and I mimicked back at them.

I started stretching my arms over my head before letting out a yawn. My hand flew to my mouth, trying to stifle it but to no avail.

"Tired?" Gregory asked in a teasing voice.

Rubbing the weariness from my eyes, I turned towards him, "Only a little."

Truth of the matter was that I was too tired and too comfortable to give a sarcastic retort. My weary, honest response seemed to throw him for a loop. He just stared at me, contemplating his next move.

"We should probably clean up first before we go to bed," Tony called out, breaking the silence and interrupting our staring contest.

I let out another yawn before responding.

"Or…we could sleep down here tonight," I suggested, not wanting to get up from my comfy spot.

"Oh, that sounds like a wonderful idea!" Anna shouted out in excitement. I paused my movements in confusion.

"Uh…what?" I questioned the small girl.

"We can sleep in here with you!" She explained to me.

"But, Anna, it's still dark out, don't you want to play with your family?" I asked her while secretly loving the fact that she wanted to continue spending time with me.

"Oh, well, we can go play with our family then come back and sleep in here with you!" She impulsively decided.

"Yeah! It'll be like a sleepover!" Tony cried out excitedly.

"What's a 'sleepover'?" Rudolph asked in confusion.

"It's when a group of friends spend the day playing with each other before sleeping together in the same room at one of the friends' house," I rapidly informed, half-asleep already.

"Oh, well, haven't we done that already, Tony," Rudolph asked his best friend at his side.

"Yeah, but it'll be even more fun in a bigger group," Tony told him with a big smile.

"Alright then," Rudolph began, "Let's have a sleepover."

"One of you will have to close the curtains," I called out from my spot in the nest of pillows while snuggling further into the large comforter that was draped over my body.

The large windows in the den would prove troublesome when the sun rose tomorrow. There were large, heavy curtains hanging on the side that would easily protect our vampire friends if they were tightly drawn closed.

"I got it!" Rudolph hollered out.

The curtain rings sliding over the rod graced my ears before I heard Rudolph plop back down next to Tony.

"I'll turn off the lights," I heard Gregory whisper.

"Oh, wait one second!" Tony halted Gregory's movements, "Here you go, Anna!"

I cracked open my eyes to see Tony give Anna a drawing of herself with the new hairdo I gave her. He had drawn three different profiles of her, one from the front, side, and behind.

"I figured since you don't cast a reflection, that this would be the next best thing to see your new hairstyle," Tony explained to the vampire girl.

"Oh, Tony…it's beautiful!" She happily sighed, clutching the portrait to her heart.

"I'm glad you like it," Tony bashfully replied.

Before this could progress any further, Gregory interrupted the two lovebirds.

"Alright, that's enough of that," He told everyone before flicking the lights off, "The mortals need their rest and we need to stretch our legs. Let's go you two."

"See you later, Tony and Miss Lulu," Rudolph politely bid before being interrupted by his love-struck sister.

"Good night, Lucy—thank you for my new look!" Anna told me before turning to Tony's general direction, "I'll return soon, Tony!"

"Oh, come on you," Rudolph irritably told his sister. She giggled at her brother's anger before flying away from him.

At least I'm guessing they flew away.

It was awfully dark in the den with the curtain's closed and the lights turned off. So, I had to go by the sounds and echoes in the room rather than my eyesight.

Suddenly, I felt something cold gently stroke the side of my face.

Gregory?

No…I must be imagining things.

He left with the others.

I quickly told myself before laying back down in the nest.

…I hope they return soon…

I woke up to something small curling closer into my side. My arms instinctively wrapped around the wriggling mass to soothe its movements. At first I thought it was Tony since he would sometimes crawl in my bed when he had a bad dream. But when my fingers touched familiar braided hair, I knew it was Anna clinging to me.

My lips turned upwards in a smile and I slowly cracked open one eye to look down at the young girl. She was sleeping contentedly next to me. I turned my head upwards to see the boys fast asleep in their fort. The sunlight was barely peeking out around the corners of the windows, so I knew it was daytime. Thankfully, the fabric of the drapes was so thick that the vampire children would remain safe from the harsh rays.

I slowly eased my arms away from Anna's sleeping figure before gently sitting my body in an upright position. It was then that I noticed Gregory on my right side. He was comfortably laying on his back with one arm tucked beneath his head. He was so still and so silent…it scared me at first to see him like this. I had to keep repeating to myself that he wasn't dead, just a vampire.

My heart felt heavy and sad at the thought that he could be…

Well, the thought that he…that he would never wake up…it…it hurt.

I don't know how long I stared at him or how long I thought about waking him up to be sure that he was alright. But I do know that a good amount of time passed before I could tear my gaze away from him. I needed to get something to eat and clear my mind.

Yes, that was it.

I'm just hungry and in need of a shower…that's all.

With this declaration in mind, I tiptoed out of the den and slipped into the dining hall to access the kitchen. The bright sunlight shining through the windows blinded me for a moment before my eyes adjusted to the light. Note to self, I'd have to recommend to my parents to install custom-made shutters for the dining hall windows. Just in case one of the vampires gets hungry during the day.

Once in the kitchen, I made my usual breakfast: toast with jam and a copious amount of coffee. I scarfed down my meal, washed and dried my dishes, and put everything back in its place before making my way to my bedroom.

I was still dressed in my outfit from yesterday and couldn't wait to freshen up. Quickly striding to my suitcase, I grabbed some clean clothes before heading to the bathroom. There I quickly washed off the fatigue from my body and the leftover makeup from the previous day.

The warm spray felt so good that I didn't want to ever leave its soothing powers but knew that I had to get back down to the others. So, I finished up my shower time, brushed my teeth, and properly dried my hair this time with the blow dryer. After I dried my hair, I put on a pair of acid-wash shorts with blue hearts decorating the back pockets. Then I grabbed my pale blue, long-sleeved shirt that had a cute nautical anchor on the front before slipping on my blue and white striped sneakers.

By the time I was done dressing, the mirror was finally cleared of all the steam from my hot shower. I decided to forgo the concealer today since the dark circles under my eyes had pretty much disappeared, but I still applied a little bit of mascara to my eyelashes. Feeling satisfied with my overall appearance I opened the bathroom door and jumped back in shock.

"Gregory?!" I questioned, not believing my eyes, "What are you doing up?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he automatically responded, letting out a sigh of relief at my appearance.

"What do you mean?"

"When I woke up to check on everyone, you weren't there," he said in exasperation, "Why'd you leave?"

"Oh, well I was a bit hungry and wanted to freshen up for the day," I told him, "You were sleeping, and I didn't want to wake you up."

He let out a sigh, "Next time, just let me know where you are going."

"Um…why?" I asked not understanding why I had to report my whereabouts to him.

"Because…"

"Because, why?"

"Just because," he growled at me before taking a deep, calming breath. "Please just tell me where you go next time…I like to keep track of people that I care about."

Gregory mumbled the last part.

I didn't know what to say to that.

"You…you care about me?" I asked him.

"Of course, I care about you," he said as though it was the most apparent thing in the world. "You and your family have done everything in your power to guarantee my clan's safety and happiness. I…I owe you everything."

"Gregory…I don't want you to feel as though you owe me anything," I told him honestly, "I…I think that what I want is—well…I think that all I want is your friendship."

"You think?"

"I'm…Well, I'm not good with feelings or emotions," I reluctantly confessed, "Most of the time I have to go to Tony to ask him what certain things mean."

"Really?" Gregory asked, slightly shocked at me revealing a weakness.

"Yeah, I actually have to talk to him about—" I immediately cut myself off, realizing who I was talking to.

"You have to talk to him about…?" Gregory trailed off trying to prompt me to tell him more.

"Uhm…nothing!" I lied.

"Oh, come on," he pleaded, "You can tell me."

"No, it's really—"

"Lucy, please tell me."

My heart pounded in my chest and my face was burning up again.

"It's that, right there," I blurted out, not able to hold my tongue anymore and pushing past him to walk further into my bedroom.

"I'm sorry, could you clarify the matter a bit more?" Gregory requested while I put my head in my hands in embarrassment and started pacing to calm myself down a bit.

"Whenever you say my name," I confided, "My heart feels as though it's going to pop out of my chest and my face feels so hot. I thought that I was getting sick at first, but it only happens when you—you say m-my name. And—"

"Lucy, breathe!" Gregory commanded while grabbing me by my shoulders to halt my incessant movements. If possible, my face burned even brighter.

I tried to take a deep breath, but barely got any air in my lungs.

"You truly don't know do you?" Gregory mysteriously asked while slipping a stray lock of hair behind my ear, "It's okay, I know what's going on with you."

"You do?" I asked him with relief on my face.

He chuckled at my happiness before nodding his head.

"Well?" I asked him.

"Well, what?" He innocently repeated.

"What's wrong with me?" I asked him a bit irritated.

"Nothing."

"Noth—Gregory I don't think that increased heart palpitations and a low-grade fever caused from you saying my name, is classified as 'nothing'," I angrily informed him.

Why won't he just tell me?

I knew that I should have just talked to Tony.

"Lucy," Gregory began, chuckling when he saw my face turn red again, "Do you have any friends that are not related to you and are around your age?"

"Well…no," I answered honestly.

"You aren't used to having a friend your age around," He said, "Plus, you probably aren't accustomed to interacting with a male teenager on friendly terms, am I right?"

I gave my head a slight nod in embarrassment.

"Well, that explains why your body is reacting in an unusual manner," he stated with a smile, "It's a new situation for you and, given time, you'll eventually get used to me saying your name and won't have that reaction anymore."

It made sense.

"So…there's nothing wrong with me?" I hesitantly asked, just needing one more reassurance that I wasn't sick or broken.

"Besides being an utter pain?" Gregory teased, "There is absolutely nothing wrong with you."

I let out a sigh of relief.

Thank God. I numbly thought as I slumped to my bed in relief

Man, this is humiliating. Why can't I figure out my emotions myself? A preschooler has a better grasp and understanding of their feelings than me.

"Okay, what's with the scowl?" Gregory asked while leaning down to my seated height to poke at the crinkle between my eyebrows.

"It's—not, I just…I don't—ugh!" I tried voicing my thoughts, but just dramatically dropped myself onto my bed. My back was laying on the mattress while my legs dangled to the floor and I had my face covered in shame with my hands.

I felt my mattress dip a little as Gregory took a seat next to me.

He sat there silently as I gathered my wits about me.

"Why can't I seem to get it?"

"Get what?" He patiently asked.

"Feelings, emotions, little non-verbal gestures—I just don't get it," I ranted, "Tony can take one glance at a person and know exactly why they're sad and how to cheer them up."

I hastily sat up to look at Gregory when I shared how messed up of a human being I was.

"Alright, so Tony has a strong sense of empathy while you have a strong, intelligent mind," Gregory said, trying to put things into perspective for me, "That seems like a pretty good balance."

"Oh, yeah great balance," I retorted sarcastically, "Tony is super at being human and I'm a super-computer. You know they have a term for that? It's called a sociopath—a person who doesn't feel anything and is doomed to die alone."

Gregory did not like hearing me speak about myself in such a depreciating manner. He roughly grabbed my shoulders and forced me to look him in the eyes. This rough manner effectively silenced my self-loathing rants as I stared into his eyes.

Those deep, hypnotizing, red eyes.

"Lucy, I'm going to say this once and one time only, so you better pay attention," Gregory growled, his fangs angrily glinting in the lighting, "Just because you don't understand your emotions, does not mean that you don't have emotions. You are the one who perfectly planned our inhabiting this castle. You are the one who devised a background to help keep suspicious villagers away. You are the one who came up with the ingenious system to feed my family. You did all of this because you care about us. I know you do because I see it in your eyes when you smile at my siblings as though they were your own. If you didn't have emotions, then you wouldn't have performed all these amazing feats for us."

Gregory eased his grip on my shoulder to cup my face in both his hands before continuing his speech, "It's been so long since I could confidently say that I have a true friend by my side. And, as such, I will not allow my new friend to speak so poorly of themselves again, do I make myself clear?"

My mouth opened to form a response, but no words came out.

So, I did the next best thing and let my actions speak for me.

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pulled Gregory into a hug.

"Thank you," I finally managed to whisper in his ear.

His only response was to reciprocate my hug, pulling me closer in our embrace.

We stayed like that for a couple of minutes, enjoying the silent comfort of our newly established bond. I knew that Gregory never hated me in the beginning, but it was nice to know that he considered me a friend.

When we finally did pull apart, a question popped into my mind.

"Wait…if you consider me a friend then why are you always teasing me and picking on me?" I asked him in confusion.

"Ah, well, I'm a bit of a…I guess you would call it a sadist and I enjoy tormenting the ones I care about," he informed me with a sinfully wicked grin.

That kind of smile should be illegal.

"Oh, great," I sarcastically replied, "My best friend is an openly admitted jackarse."

"And mine can't understand her feelings," Gregory shot back while rising to his feet, "Nobody is perfect, my dear."

I rolled my eyes before informing him in a threatening manner, "You are so getting a garlic bulb launched at your face one of these days."

He barked out a laugh before offering me his hand.

"Come on," Gregory began, "We need to get back downstairs to the others before they wake up."

After delicately placing my warm hand onto his, feeling the cool sensation seep into my fingers, he helped me to my feet before escorting me out the door.

Neither one of us realized that our hands were still clasped together as we walked throughout the castle.

Everything seemed so…perfect.